Food & Drink

I know that statement sounds a bit weird. But, it’s true. Before I began this health journey, I remember a time when I babied my car a helluva lot more than I took care of my own body. I only took my car to hand-washed car washes. I was so careful about the service schedule and…

I’ve been using a whey protein isolate for the last 4 years as part of my post-workout recovery. Real food is best. But, protein powder is convenient and it’s absorbed pretty quickly by the body. So, I drink it right after my training session while I’m making coffee and breakfast. I’ve tried a lot of…

It is a common myth that eating animal fats will make you fat and cause heart disease. It’s simply not true and it isn’t that simple to explain the causes behind diseases like atherosclerosis. Your body needs cholesterol to survive and be healthy. The cholesterol we eat has little to do with the cholesterol we measure…

Even since I switched to an unprocessed foodstyle (about 2 years ago), I have become more and more excited about cooking. I can’t stand bland food, so I use herbs and spices like crazy! There is nothing wrong with using spices to prepare your food! Not sure why people believe that eating healthy sometimes means…

For fun and science, I tracked my daily intake yesterday for my entire day of meals, snacks, and treats. I was quite surprised at the total calories and discovered that I really should be taking in about 1000 more calories. I already feel like I’m eating a ton of food every day. I eat steak, chicken breasts, lots of veggies, some fruit, snacks, and even have a small treat every night.

I now know that a single large-sized meal at McDonald’s is pretty close to my daily intake. So, I created this chart just to visualize the crazy comparison.

Meal planning is very helpful when you’re Paleo. Otherwise, it is too easy to get into a rut with the same old food or fall off the Paleo wagon when you’re pinched for time (I’ll just eat a bowl of cereal this one time). You should also plan to cook more than you need for a given meal, so that you have easy leftovers for lunch during the week. I’m not sure what it is about lunch, but it seems to be the most challenging meal. A lot of Paleo followers cook up big batches of food on the weekends when they have more time. I remember grilling something like 10 chicken breasts one Sunday. It was nice to just pull a pre-grilled chicken breast out of the fridge during the week for a quick meal.

I was reading a good post today that inspired me to say a few words on the subject of fitness and weight loss. I am continually amazed at all of the misconceptions, misinformation, and old-fashioned BS advice that keeps floating around regarding how to lose weight, get fit, and be healthy. There is no magic pill or drink, there is no magical exercise, there is no way to lose weight and be fit while continuing to eat crappy food. Sorry, if you’ve been told that and you believe it, you’ve been lied to (again) and you’re fooling yourself.

On the flip side, if you are already eating healthy, but you refuse to get serious about exercise, you won’t really be fit and healthy either. You may look “skinny”, but you won’t be strong or healthy. And I promise you that your body will eventually pay the price.

Like I said, it isn’t rocket science. If you sat down and had a really deep session of thinking about how our bodies work, why they work the way they do, and were completely honest with yourself; you would come to the same conclusion. To be an optimal physical organism (i.e., fit and healthy), you have to fuel your body with the real food it was built to run on and you need to use that body the way it was meant to be used.

I sometimes use the sports car analogy. If you take the most amazing sports car and put crappy fuel in it, it will run poorly and eventually break down. If you put great fuel in the sports car but you leave it parked in the garage and never drive it, it will eventually break down as well.